The Wild Lens

To satisfy our need to be better connected, humans have created many modern conveyances, including highways. Wildlife has been paying a huge toll for this social need of humankind, however. Our anthropogenic activities are destroying natural habitats and creating barriers to animal biodiversity. This results in unwanted human-animal encounters as well, which creates trouble for both species.

Wildlife corridors have emerged as areas of preservation and growth of species. Also known as habitat corridors or ecological corridors, they are designed to keep local migratory animal species from the encroaching human population in regions where human-wildlife interactions are unavoidable.

There are wildlife corridors across six continents, including Canada, the Netherlands, Kenya and Australia, but in North America only 12 percent of the land is protected. The following North American programs are worthy of recognition.

MONTANA

U.S. Highway 93 North in Montana is the site of one of the largest safe-crossing efforts in the nation. There are a total of 41 fish and wildlife crossing structures that include underpasses and overpasses, all of which were created along the 56-mile stretch of road.

Camera traps have recorded a variety of species making use of the crossing structures, including grizzly bears, deer, elk, mountain lions and other wild animals.

TEXAS

The Lower Rio Grande Valley is the epicenter of infrastructural development in Southeastern Texas. The region's wildlife refuge has been working successfully with conservation groups and local farmers for more than three decades to construct a wildlife corridor along the river valley offering secure passage to species.

The wildlife benefitting from these efforts comprise migrating birds and rare mammals such as the ocelot.

ILLINOIS

The Burnham Wildlife Corridor is a 100-acre landscape located on a crucial piece of real estate along Chicago’s Lakeshore area. The park is home to the prairie and woodland bionetworks that are aboriginals to this part of the central United States.

It is primarily used as a sanctuary for the three million migratory birds that go through the area annually. 

YELLOWSTONE TO THE YUKON

The Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative is a joint Canada-United States charitable organization that aims to protect the 2,000-mile region. It connects and protects habitat along the mountainous ecosystem from Yellowstone National Park to the Yukon.

Many wild species navigate through this passage, including pronghorns, grizzly bears, black bears, tigers, elk and cougars.

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

The Southern California mountain region is the habitat of mountain lions, but the loss of habitation and genetic diversity in the area stimulated the conservationists and authorities to construct a wildlife migration crossing that will span 10 lanes of traffic northwest of Los Angeles above U.S. 101. 

The overpass will provide favorable terrain for mountain lions and other wildlife species to traverse safely between the two habitats, divided by the highway. It will be constructed in an area that experts have identified as a critical point of connectivity for numerous species.

NORTHERN CALIFORNIA

Caltrans and the California Natural Resources Agency, along with local partners including the Land Trust of Santa Cruz County and the Santa Cruz Regional Transportation Commission, joined forces to create the Laurel Curve Wildlife Undercrossing on a busy commuter highway in the coastal mountains of Northern California. It connects nearly 460 acres of land on both sides of the highway that has been preserved in a conservation easement by the land trust.

Caltrans Acting Director Steven Keck said, “This wildlife undercrossing will reconnect habitat on both sides of the highway while helping reduce wildlife-vehicle collisions, improving safety for the thousands of people who travel the Highway 17 corridor every day.” 

Bobcat, squirrels, deer and foxes were seen in the crossing soon after its completion.

Here’s to the successes. And here's hoping that we can expand on this important work to mitigate the problems that we've created for our animal neighbors as the human footprint extends further and further into natural habitats.